Shanti's Story (sort of)

Methinks I should write about someone I once knew when she and I were much younger, which wasn’t too long ago.














Meet Shanti, one of the main caretakers of Desa Amal Jireh, an organization for underprivileged children. She sings very well, Alicia Keys style, with piano and all. She speaks Chinese just like a Chinese, maybe better too.

It’s kinda cool to be somebody important who gets invited to give away donations at orphanages- photographers take pictures of you posing for their cameras, and then the story about you, the important person, gets published in the local dailies soon after that while you sit in your spacious office to admire your pictures. But it’s totally something else to be THE people running an orphanage, just like Shanti and her parents.

I’ve had the chance to stay at Desa Amal Jireh a couple of years ago (only for the weekend). That was one of those times when I really didn’t know what to do during a boring weekend after a whole week of insane office work and studying.

Volunteering to go stay in an orphanage for the weekend was one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve ever made myself go through. With no prior experience of ever dealing with children before and no child psychology qualifications whatsoever, I really didn’t know what to expect from these children. And I was informed beforehand to be careful of certain invisible hands and quick fingers there too, being the young, cheeky children that they were.












I was taken on a short tour of the orphanage- children of different age groups were put together in different houses- and I was put in a house where around 11 tween girls lived in it.

The girls were very friendly to me. I went there as a volunteer but those girls treated me like a princess- like, seriously, I couldn’t believe it. Paris Hilton should try this sometime.













Those girls I stayed with led very systematic lives within the household, just like any normal family unit, with their own daily routine. The elder girls took care of the younger ones; and each girl had different responsibilities in the house- cleaning, sweeping, cooking, washing.
















It was almost lunch time. I sat down on the floor with a group of girls to help them cut vegetables (if my mum reads this sentence, she’d probably say I’m biased, racist, whatever. I rarely help out in the kitchen back at home). Once they were done, one of the girls took the vegetables and started cooking it. A few other girls went on to set up the table and get the eating utensils ready.















“Sister, sit down, sister,” one of the girls said to me.

I sat down and she placed a plate of rice in front of me. We had “nasi lemak” together that afternoon. The girls made sure I had enough food to eat. And I started wondering why I was even there in the first place as a so-called volunteer.

After lunch, we sat down on the floor at the living room to watch TV.
















Just like any normal family unit, it is never intended to exist without its usual bickering or two (or more). Someone said something to another and this girl started crying and then ran out from the house. Before she left, she cried to another girl, “You’re saying this because I don’t have a ma and pa!”

The atmosphere in the house became momentarily tense. I was shell-shocked.

“Nevermind, she’ll come back,” one of them said to me.

















That night, a few girls made up the bed for me, the so-called volunteer.

“Sister, you sleep here tonight,” a cute and plump Chinese girl told me.

I had difficulty falling asleep that night. There were just too many things going through my mind as I thought about those kids staying there.














Visiting underprivileged kids just to take pictures with them for publicity purposes is one thing. But really spending time with them and feeling their joys and sorrows only made this experience all the more intense and memorable. It somehow trivializes all the other problems that I usually hear from friends: “Die lah, got exam tomorrow”; “I want a car! I want a car!”; “I hope I find a boy/girlfriend soon”; “Does this dress suit me?”.

I mean, who cares :P You have your own hierarchy of needs to take care of, and I have mine too.

Sorry, I forgot. Digressing as usual. This entry is supposed to be about Shanti. She’s one of those chosen to receive CLEO’s Young Achievers Awards this year. Read about her here. Get a copy of CLEO (October 2009 issue) and see Shanti’s pretty picture in the magazine…
















The children's angel